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Comment: Atticus: Lord, its close as Auntie keeps the nobblers from Geldof and Singh

With Do They Know It’s Christmas? still at Number One, you’d think that Bob Geldof would romp home in any popularity contest. But he faces unexpected competition in the election to be the Today programme’s “listeners’ lord” or “people’s peer”.

The result will be declared on the BBC Radio 4 programme tomorrow, but the majority of the 16,000 votes are apparently divided almost equally between Geldof and Indarjit Singh, a leading Sikh and regular contributor to Today’s Thought for the Day slot.

Previous popularity contests on Today have suffered from mass lobbying, but the BBC says there is no evidence of a campaign by Sikhs on Singh’s behalf. Or indeed by the Boomtown Rats fan club for Geldof. “We have kept a close eye on this,” says a spokesman.

The winner’s name will go forward to the House of Lords Appointments Commission. But will the commission take notice? The omens